The CASE Programme Implemented Across the Primary and Secondary School Transition in Ireland

Abstract

In the Irish education system, there is little continuity between the primary and secondary education systems. The transfer between these systems is particularly problematic in the area of science. In order to alleviate some of these problems, as well as to enhance the cognitive development of students, the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education programme was adapted for use and implemented across the primary -secondary school transition in Ireland. The programme was delivered in a variety of ways across the two levels, including the teacher and researcher teaching the programmes individually and team-teaching arrangements. The results on cognitive development measures showed that the students who were taught the programme in primary and secondary school made significant gains, when compared to the non-intervention group. There were also gains evident for students who only received one part of the programme (i.e. in either primary or secondary school). The greater gains, in terms of effect size, were evident at secondary school. The rationale, methodology and results are detailed in this paper.

But is it science?

“…That is, the processes of ‘disequilibrium detection’, of problem finding (Watts & Pedrosa de Jesus, 2010 ), come from children’s interactions with life – and often from the clash between experience of ‘life issues’ and the overlay of knowledge derived from school and other informative sources throughout the early years (Watts & Alsop, 1995 ). In some ways, this is a precurser to the Cognitive Acceleration in Science Education notion (for older children) of cognitive dissonance (McCormack, Finlayson, & McCloughlin, 2014 ). That said, Walsh and Sattes ( 2005 ) make the point that formulating investigative questions is a skill that needs to be explicitly taught in early years and beyond.…”

Impact of Team Teaching on Student Teachers’ Professional Identity: A Bayesian Approach

“…However, during the implementation of these models, team teachers should assume diverse roles, especially when one team teacher takes the lead, aiming to optimize the learning outcomes of all participants [44]. Furthermore, opportunities to experiment with different models and to switch between them are important to optimize team teaching [45,46]. Firstly, in early workplace learning, the use of the observation model and the assistant teaching model can aid novice student teachers in becoming familiar with classroom routines.…”

“…However, during the implementation of these models, team teachers should assume diverse roles, especially when one team teacher takes the lead, aiming to optimize the learning outcomes of all participants [44]. Furthermore, opportunities to experiment with different models and to switch between them are important to optimize team teaching [45,46].…”

Supporting thinking about thinking: examining the metacognition theory-practice gap in higher education

“…Consequently, initiatives have been implemented in schools to develop metacognitive ability, especially among academically weaker students. These initiatives include Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE), ReflectED and Thinking, Doing, Talking Science which, together, have been shown to increase students' cognitive development and academic achievement in Science, Maths and English in primary and secondary education (Adey & Shayer, 1993;McCormack et al, 2014;Motteram et al, 2016;Hanley et al, 2015).…”